The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sarreo, by Louis Becke

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Title: Sarreo
1901

Author: Louis Becke

Release Date: April 19, 2008 [EBook #25107]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SARREO ***

Produced by David Widger

SARREO

From "The Tapu Of Banderah and Other Stories"

By Louis Becke

C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.

1901

"Well, there's niggers an' niggers, some just as good as any white man,"
said Mr. Thomas Potter as he, the second mate of the island-trading
barque _Reconnaisance_, and Denison the supercargo, walked her short,
stumpy poop one night, "though when I was before the mast I couldn't
stand one of 'em bunking too close to me--not for a long time. But after
awhile I found out that a Kanaka or a Maori is better than the usual run
of the paint-scrubbing Jack Dog who calls himself a sailorman
nowadays. Why, I've never seen a native sailor yet as was dirty in
his habits--they're too fond o' the water. Look at these Rotumah chaps
aboard here--if there's a calm they'll jump overboard and take a swim
instead of turning in when it's their watch below. Bah, white sailors
ain't worth feeding in this Island trade--lazy, dirty, useless brutes; a
Kanaka is worth three of any one of 'em. Did you notice that photograph
in my cabin--that one showing a ship's company standing on deck?"

"Yes, I did," replied Denison.

"Well, that's the crew of the _Fanny Long_, and amongst 'em is a fellow
I'm goin' to tell you about--a chap named Sarreo. We had that picture
taken in Hobart after we had come back from a sperm whaling cruise. We
had been very lucky, and the skipper and owners had all our photographs
taken in a group. I was second mate, and this Sarreo was one of the
boatsteerers. Him and me had been shipmates before, once in the old
_Meteor_ barque, nigger-catching for the Fiji planters, and once in a
New Bedford sperm whaler, and he had taken a bit of a liking to me, so
whenever I got a new ship he generally shipped too.

"Well, I was tired of whaling; I had two ribs broke on that cruise in
the _Fanny Lang_, by a boat being stove in by a whale. So after I had
got my money I walked o